Missiles of one form or another had been used in combat for centuries prior to the development of guided missile technology in the World War II era. Since then numerous technologies were developed in order to guide missiles to their targets. The use of some form of radiation (e.g., laser or radio waves) has been a common element in many of these guided missiles. However, as advancements in missile guidance have improved, target sophistication continues to improve as well. The cost and complexity of each missile, although being typically only a fraction of the cost and complexity of most targets, makes it ever more imperative that each missile that is fired should be as effective as possible. Accordingly, it becomes increasingly desirable to continue to develop enhancements in missile guidance systems to further the likelihood of success when such weapons are employed.
Missiles with increasingly more sophisticated guidance systems have been developed over the years. In fact, more recently missiles have been developed that can communicate with a central node, such as the platform that launched the missiles, to receive guidance updates in-flight. However, as target sophistication increases, it can be expected that access to the links between launched missiles and a remote central node may be denied in the future. Thus, it may be desirable to develop missile technologies that improve the ability of missiles to not only hit targets, but hit them in the best possible location for strategic impact.